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Dimensions of Difference: Developing an Anti-Oppressive Approach to Resettlement Services for Bhutanese Refugees in the United States Danielle J

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Dimensions of Difference: Developing an Anti-Oppressive Approach to Resettlement Services for Bhutanese Refugees in the United States Danielle J Dimensions of difference: developing an anti-oppressive approach to resettlement services for Bhutanese refugees in the United States Danielle J. Grigsby Virginia Tech, Virginia Lost in the US’ larger immigration debate is consideration for the rights of, and services meant to support, Bhutanese refugees. Advocates and service providers focus on the intricacies of status acquisition, education enrolment, and access to health care for the migrant population as a whole, but rarely provide the special considerations necessary to promote inclusive access to services for vulnerable refugee populations. Specialized services targeting the unique needs of Bhutanese refugees are nascent, with the bulk of current research focused on enhancing service agencies’ awareness of available resources and medical professionals’ cultural competency. While necessary components of rights-based care, these limited interventions promote system dependence and, if delivered alone, are structurally incomplete. Current practices fail to incorporate equally necessary—and more sustainable—family and cultural preservation initiatives. This study proposes a broader intervention that would empower previously overlooked actors—namely the Bhutanese community and their capable families—to engage in culturally appropriate and holistic integration services alongside the advocates and service providers. This research identifies current gaps in the methodological approach to services for Bhutanese refugees and demonstrates the necessity of holistic care through the adoption of an anti-oppressive approach to service delivery. It seeks to develop a new framework for an integrated advancement of services for Bhutanese refugees in the United States. This framework modifies the current dependency-based model, drawing on opportunities to support cultural continuity along with professional competency. This study includes the development of a structured curriculum which would enable the refugees and their care providers to engage in strategic skill development which, it is hypothesized, will increase Bhutanese refugees’ access to sustainable livelihoods, and, ultimately, greater community integration. By engaging the Bhutanese refugees and their families in decision-making processes, this curriculum promotes a rights-based approach to strategically navigating an often overlooked dimension of difference. 1 Resettled Bhutanese refugees’ self-sufficiency and wellbeing: a case study in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Eleanor M. Ott University of Oxford Globally, twenty-seven countries have resettlement programs associated with UNHCR – representing commitments to the international refugee framework and domestic commitments to those refugees resettled. The US program is held up as an archetype of this commitment. Since 1975, the US has resettled over three million refugees, including over 60,000 Bhutanese refugees since 2008 – more than all other countries combined on both counts. The role this resettlement plays as a ‘durable solution’ for these refugees hinges on the programming of the system itself. The US 1980 Refugee Act states that the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement shall ‘make available sufficient resources for employment training and placement in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency among refugees as quickly as possible’ (emphasis added). This paper examines economic self- sufficiency interventions for Bhutanese refugees, their theories of change, and perceptions of effectiveness in an archetypal city: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A community of approximately 3,500 Bhutanese refugees have settled in Pittsburgh, nestled in the hills of fourteen neighborhoods. Now, ‘in [the camps in] Nepal, Pittsburgh is very famous’ because of the population assembled for jobs, affordability, geography, elder care, and relative safety. The author assisted the first families in 2008 and returned for research with the Bhutanese population and their service providers in March 2011, August- September 2012, and January-April 2013. This paper presents qualitative fieldwork results and the demographic profile from the Bhutanese Community Association of Pittsburgh’s 2013 census. Understanding the employment services and perspectives of economic self- sufficiency and wellbeing for Bhutanese refugees in Pittsburgh provides a frame to see not only the challenges and successes of this population and resettlement, but also national and international obligations. As one Bhutanese refugee said in a focus group, ‘Government should understand the nature of the refugees arriving and put us with jobs that… allow the life to sustain.’ 2 Changing relations among refugees and local communities in Nepal Gopal Guragain Kathmandu, Nepal During 2008-12, many changes have taken place in the refugee camps of eastern Nepal. More than 78,000 refugees have already been resettled in eight western countries. More than 20,000 refugees are waiting for third country resettlement. The remaining 10,000 refugees are still undecided on durable solutions. However, they are enjoying electricity in their huts, LP gas for cooking in the kitchen, and are equipped with smart phones and laptops, which they often use for chat and browsing. These were only dreams before 2008. The third country resettlement of the refugees opened in 2007 and brought various changes in the life of people at the refugee camps and outside camps of Nepal. Life in the refugee camps became easier because of the flow of remittances from relatives who are resettled. Every day, around 7 million Nepalese rupees (about USD 90,000) entered the camps. There are more than 36 remittance companies only at one camp of Damak. The financial capability of the refugees has increased these days because of these remittances. They have money in their hands and are able to start small businesses and industry, buy goods for living and afford a good education for their children. The increased financial capability of the refugees has also helped to change the perception of local people towards them. Refugees are buyers of meat, green vegetables, groceries, milk and other daily commodities that help to grow the business, market and entrepreneurship of local community. The relations are better and locals benefit from refugee resources. It is clear that the 3rd country resettlement has brought in money as remittances and also brings social changes in the local community which ultimately will create a favourable environment for local integration and local assimilation. Social service provider perceptions of “Nepali-ness” of asylum seekers and refugees in Austin, Texas Heather Hindman University of Texas at Austin “Well, are they Bhutanese or Nepalese?” This question, asked by a local school administrator, prompted this exploration of the perceptions of difference held by the refugee 3 service community in Austin, Texas. In this paper, I examine the understandings of organizations serving Bhutanese-Nepali refugees about culture and difference and how their perceptions of what distinctions are important influence the support that refugees receive. I place this problem of identarian assignments in the context of conflicts that stem from the different paths that Nepalis and Nepalese-Americans have taken to their current residence in Texas. While the city has long had a small population of successful Nepali business people in the tech sector, in the early 2000s it became home to a number of Nepalis seeking asylum status as a result of the Maoist conflict. Many of those asylum seekers have spent significant time working through the U.S. legal system and many are still awaiting the final outcomes of their cases. During this time, these asylum seekers became well known to those who provide social services in Austin, and were seen as valuable assets, given their strong skills in English. With the large influx of Bhutanese-Nepalis to Austin since 2006, asylum seekers have often been the first people that service providers turn to in providing support for Bhutanese-Nepali refugees, noting that both populations speak the same language. Yet, in a metaphorical sense, they do not, and there has been conflict between refugees and asylum seekers, the nature and cause of which is often unrecognized by those in charge of large service organizations. In this paper, I will explore the structures that permit these conflicts as well as the limits of refugee service providers’ understandings of the distinctions between various members of the diverse Nepali community in Austin. A Daughter Married: A Daughter Lost? Underage Marriages and Bhutanese Refugee Resettlement IIse Griek Tilburg University In Bhutan, arranged child marriages were both accepted and common within the Lhotshampa community. Among Bhutanese refugees in camps in Nepal, attitudes to this practice changed significantly—the reduction in child marriages reflects a shift in which awareness-raising by humanitarian agencies and the ample availability of free education for girls are likely to have played an important role. After the start of the resettlement process, claims began to surface that underage marriages were once again on the rise. In contrast to earlier child marriages, however, these new underage marriages were ‘love’ marriages that often took place against parents’ wishes. 4 They were also handled differently: where Nepalese law prescribes punishment for parents who arrange the marriage of an underage child, these new marriages invoked a different type of legal case: parents now brought their children before the camp
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